Poll results haven't fazed Falk

Democrat says she's strongest recall candidate

May 4, 2012

APPLETON — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk said Thursday she’s the “strongest candidate” to face Gov. Scott Walker in the recall election, but pledged to support the winner of her party’s primary if the results aren’t in her favor.

“I’m a team player and we’re all united in our effort to get the state back on track,” Falk said in a live interview on postcrescent. com.

Her statement came a day after the release of a Marquette University Law School poll that showed Falk trailing Milwaukee mayor and primary front-runner Tom Barrett by 17 points. The poll — a survey of 705 Wisconsin voters conducted between April 26 and 29 — put Barrett at 38 percent, ahead of Falk’s 21 percent. Secretary of State Doug La Follette and state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, were essentially out of the picture with 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

The gap between Barrett and the former Dane County executive has widened since the law school’s poll in March, which showed Barrett at 36 percent and Falk at 29 percent.

Falk cited Barrett’s popularity — noting he was a 2010 gubernatorial candidate — as the reason for his lead.

“He’s well known statewide and so much is based on whether you’re known or not,” she said.

Barrett lost to Walker by a close margin in 2010 — 52 percent to 46 percent. He jumped into the recall race on March 30.

Despite the recent poll results, Falk remains optimistic about her chances, saying Barrett doesn’t have the same support from the “grassroots movement” that has helped fuel the recall effort. Falk has won the favor of nearly every major union in Wisconsin. The move to recall Walker began after the governor succeeded in an effort to take away most collective bargaining powers from most public workers.

“We don’t know,” Falk said of the possible outcome of Tuesday’s primary. “Because so far everything that was kind of predicted hasn’t happened.”

Falk, 60, took swipes at Walker’s failure to create jobs — a theme that has taken hold in recent weeks, especially after a federal report released last month showed Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs from March 2011 to March 2012. That was more than any other state in the country.

Falk slammed Walker’s campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs.

“His promise to us has not only failed, but he has divided our state and torn us apart like we’ve never seen before,” she said.

Falk said if elected governor, she would be willing to work with Republicans on issues. She described herself as a motherly figure whom “quarreling” family members could look to for guidance.

“We need to start healing and getting our state back on track,” she said.

Falk served as Dane County executive for 14 years. She ran for governor in 2002, but lost to Jim Doyle in the Democratic primary. She also failed in a bid for attorney general in 2006.

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